The Air Force's decision comes after the Veterans Affairs IG found alleged procurement fraud, intimidation and threats against a federal official. FedBid says it's cooperating with the Air Force and believes it took the necessary steps to fix the problems.

The reverse auction vendor says its decision to split up its federal and commercial businesses has nothing to do with the critical Veterans Affairs inspector general report from September. Joe Jordan said FedBid has taken several steps to ensure any problems highlighted by the IG are resolved.

Reverse auction company FedBid is making some changes at the top. The company will split into federal and commercial entities. Joe Jordon will continue as leader of the federal portion. Federal News Radio Executive Editor Jason Miller tells In Depth with Francis Rose about what the new FedBid will look like.

Reps. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) and Sam Graves (R-Mo.), chairmen of the Veterans Affairs and Small Business committees, respectively, wrote to Anne Rung, OFPP administrator, saying agencies still are "misusing" reverse auctions to "evade competition and compliance with other procurement regulations."

In this week's "Inside the Reporter's Notebook," the passage of five cybersecurity bills by Congress in the past week signals a long-coming and much needed change to how agencies defend their computer networks; an interesting bid protest decision flew under the radar that signals yet another challenge to FedBid, the reverse auction contractor and the Justice Department's first foray into the open data world with the launch of
two APIs is noteworthy, but the underlying reason why DoJ could release the software code is really the story here.

The Veterans Affairs inspector general issued a report alleging the deputy chief procurement officer at the Veterans Health Administration used her position to promote and award a contract to FedBid, a reverse auction vendor, and improperly acted as an agent of the vendor, creating a conflict of interest.

The Veterans Affairs Department's decision comes as lawmakers are putting this acquisition concept under more scrutiny. House Veterans Affairs and Small Business Committee lawmakers question whether agencies are getting the best prices and whether they are sacrificing competition. GAO, other experts say OFPP needs to develop a governmentwide policy for reverse auctions.